Editing Vitamin E (section)

== History ==
Vitamin E was discovered in 1922 by [[Herbert McLean Evans]] and [[Katharine Bishop|Katharine Scott Bishop]]<ref name=Evans1922>{{cite journal | vauthors = Evans HM, Bishop KS | journal = Science | volume = 56 | issue = 1458 | pages = 650–1 | date = December 1922 | pmid = 17838496 | doi = 10.1126/science.56.1458.650 | bibcode = 1922Sci....56..650E | jstor = 1647181 | title = On the existence of a hitherto unrecognized dietary factor essential for reproduction | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1448277 | access-date = 13 December 2020 | archive-date = 27 October 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221027063908/https://zenodo.org/record/1448277 | url-status = live }}</ref> and first isolated in a pure form by Evans and [[Gladys Anderson Emerson]] in 1935 at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name=EWS>{{citation |title=Encyclopedia of world scientists |pages=211–2 |isbn=978-1-4381-1882-6 | vauthors = Oakes EH |year=2007 |chapter=Emerson, Gladys Anderson|publisher=Infobase |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPRB-OED1bcC&pg=PA211}}</ref> Because the vitamin activity was first identified as a dietary fertility factor in rats, it was given the name "tocopherol" from the Greek words "τόκος" [tókos, birth], and "φέρειν", [phérein, to bear or carry] meaning in sum "to carry a pregnancy," with the ending "-ol" signifying its status as a chemical alcohol.<ref name=Evans1936/> George M. Calhoun, Professor of Greek at the University of California, was credited with helping with the naming process.<ref name=Evans1936>{{cite journal|author1=Evans HM |author2=Emerson OH |author3=Emerson GA | title = The isolation from wheat germ oil of an alcohol, a-tocopherol, having the properties of vitamin E| journal = Journal of Biological Chemistry| date=1936| volume = 113 | issue = 1| pages = 319–32 |doi=10.1016/S0021-9258(18)74918-1 | doi-access = free | title-link = doi }}</ref> [[Erhard Fernholz]] elucidated its structure in 1938 and shortly afterward the same year, [[Paul Karrer]] and his team first synthesized it.<ref name=Karrer1938>{{cite journal | vauthors = Karrer P, Fritzsche H, Ringier BH, Salomon H | year = 1938 | title = Synthesis of α-tocopherol (vitamin E) | journal = Nature | volume = 141 | issue = 3580| page = 1057 | doi = 10.1038/1411057d0 | bibcode = 1938Natur.141.1057K | s2cid = 4118327 | doi-access = free | title-link = doi }}</ref>

Nearly 50 years after the discovery of vitamin E, an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled "Vitamin in search of a disease" read in part "...research revealed many of the vitamin's secrets, but no certain therapeutic use and no definite deficiency disease in man." The animal discovery experiments had been a requirement for successful pregnancy, but no benefits were observed for women prone to miscarriage. Evidence for vascular health was characterized as unconvincing. The editorial closed with mention of some preliminary human evidence for protection against hemolytic anemia in young children.<ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1001/jama.1967.03130030065018 |volume=201 |issue=3 |title=Vitamin in search of a disease |year=1967 |journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association | pages=195–6}}</ref>

A role for vitamin E in coronary heart disease was first proposed in 1946 by [[Evan Shute]] and colleagues.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Vogelsang A, Shute EV | title = Effect of vitamin E in coronary heart disease | journal = Nature | volume = 157 | issue = 3997 | pages = 772 | date = June 1946 | pmid = 21064771 | doi = 10.1038/157772b0 | bibcode = 1946Natur.157..772V | s2cid = 4099854 | doi-access = free | title-link = doi }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Skelton F, Shute E, Skinner HG, Waud RA | title = Antipurpuric action of α-tocopherol (vitamin E) | journal = Science | volume = 103 | issue = 2687 | pages = 762 | date = June 1946 | pmid = 17836459 | doi = 10.1126/science.103.2687.762-b | bibcode = 1946Sci...103R.762S | s2cid = 35677118 }}</ref> More cardiovascular work from the same research group followed,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Shute EV, Vogelsang AB | title = The influence of vitamin E on vascular disease | journal = Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics | volume = 86 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–8 | date = January 1948 | pmid = 18920873 }}</ref> including a proposal that megadoses of vitamin E could slow down and even reverse the development of [[atherosclerosis]].<ref>Shute WE, Shute EV. ''Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) in cardiovascular disease'' Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Ryerson Press, 1954</ref> Subsequent research showed no association between vitamin E supplementation and cardiovascular events such as nonfatal stroke or myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular mortality.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Eidelman RS, Hollar D, Hebert PR, Lamas GA, Hennekens CH | title = Randomized trials of vitamin E in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease | journal = Archives of Internal Medicine | volume = 164 | issue = 14 | pages = 1552–6 | date = July 2004 | pmid = 15277288 | doi = 10.1001/archinte.164.14.1552 }}</ref>

There is a long history of belief that topical application of vitamin E containing oil benefits burn and wound healing.<ref name=Panin2004 /> This belief persists even though scientific reviews refuted this claim.<ref name=Sidgwick2015 /><ref name=Tanaydin2016 />

The role of vitamin E in infant nutrition has a long research history. From 1949 onward there were trials with premature infants suggesting that oral alpha-tocopherol was protective against [[edema]], [[intracranial hemorrhage]], [[hemolytic anemia]] and [[retrolental fibroplasia]].<ref name=Bell1987>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bell EF | title = History of vitamin E in infant nutrition | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition | volume = 46 | issue = 1 Suppl | pages = 183–6 | date = July 1987 | pmid = 3300257 | doi = 10.1093/ajcn/46.1.183 }}</ref> A more recent review concluded that vitamin E supplementation in preterm infants reduced the risk of intracranial hemorrhage and retinopathy, but noted an increased risk of sepsis.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Brion LP, Bell EF, Raghuveer TS | title = Vitamin E supplementation for prevention of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 4 | pages = CD003665 | year = 2003 | volume = 2010 | pmid = 14583988 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD003665 | doi-access = free | title-link = doi | pmc = 8725195 }}</ref>